Patient being tested at the Cape Cod Healthcare drive-thru facility at Cape Cod Community College early in the pandemic.
HYANNIS – One year after the first COVID-19 patients were admitted to Cape Cod Healthcare (CCHC), President and CEO Michael Lauf said on a media call Friday that he is proud of the community’s response to the ongoing pandemic.
Since the start of the outbreak, Lauf said that the healthcare provider has tested over 96 thousand people and admitted 550 people with COVID.
“We developed COVID units. We developed negative pressure rooms. We’ve spent millions of dollars on PPE. We were proud of that, because we wanted to protect our employees. We’ve had to learn on the fly, I’d say that if it weren’t for us and our ability to test people on the Cape, I’m not sure what would have happened,” said Lauf.
He said that he was also proud of Cape Cod Healthcare’s involvement with the Cape Cod Regional Vaccine Consortium—a cooperation between state, regional, county and municipal health services.
“We once again were called into action when we led the charge to form the consortium on the Cape. We could see and ensure that our community was being vaccinated. We clearly want to thank all of our partners within the consortium for their incredible dedication,” said Lauf.
When it comes to vaccinations, CCHC has provided 22,815 doses to individuals. For the Moderna and Pfizer doses, that includes 13,811 first doses and 7,611 second doses, said Lauf.
1,393 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine have been administered by CCHC, with another 685 doses going to be distributed on Monday.
CCHC clinics next week are expected to vaccinate at least another 1,000 individuals, with over 2,000 residents expected to receive their second dose as well.
Lauf said that CCHC has experienced substantial financial losses, but he is “proud of everyone in our organization, as well as our board of trustees that have always led with doing the right thing, not doing what’s financially necessary.”
He said that there may be some money in the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan recently signed by President Joe Biden coming to CCHC, but Lauf said that there is overall very little help for healthcare providers in this stimulus round.
“I think that decision not to include healthcare providers was short-sighted at best,” said Lauf.
Lauf also said that after a recent call with Governor Charlie Baker, he believes both the state and region are ready to greatly expand vaccination efforts, if shipments of the vaccine increase.
“I think [Baker] is ready to go. The Administration is ready to go. We’re ready to go on the Cape. As soon as we can get more vaccine from the federal government, I think Massachusetts will be very well positioned to deliver mass quantities of the vaccine,” said Lauf.
He said that both CCHC and the consortium are still reaching out to the most vulnerable residents who are 75 years of age and older to get them scheduled to receive their COVID-19 vaccine.
About Grady Culhane
